Komi government drafting mortgage prog for beneficiaries

5/8 Tass 66

SYKTYVKAR, August 5 (Itar-Tass) - The Komi Republic is preparing to
implement a housing program for state-paid workers and youth. Its main
instrument will be mortgage loans for a period of 15-18 years at 4.3
percent annual interest. The main guarantor of citizens' ability to pay
will be the region itself, Komi head Vyacheslav Gaiser said.
"The problems in dealing with the housing issue arise, as a rule, with
public sector employees, especially young families. And the main question
for these categories is whether they have a pledge under which a bank
could issue a credit," Gaiser noted.
According to him, after a recent meeting in Pechora at which issues of
providing housing for young families were discussed, it was proposed to
dramatically change the mechanism for granting loans. It is planned that
the republic will allocate funds for the construction of so-called social
housing and without the participation of banks, will work through an
authorized agency with certain categories of citizens.
"A 3-percent loan for 15 years makes good terms. More than that - once
the project is working, you can say that the Komi Republic was among the
first regions in Russia to independently approach the world level of
mortgage lending. That is to offer its residents not only economically
profitable, but first and foremost an effective tool for solving the
housing issue," the Komi Republic head added.
The Komi Republic is situated in the far northeast of the European
part of the Russian Federation within the boundaries of the Pechora and
Mezen-Vychegda plains, the Central and Southern Timan, and the western
slopes of the Urals (Northern, Subpolar, and Polar Urals). The republic's
mineral resources include coal, oil, gas, bauxite, titanium ores, salts,
gold, diamonds, ores of nonferrous and rare metals, fluorite, shale oil,
mineral waters, and building materials. Fuel and energy resources are of
special importance (up to 97 percent of the total potential) and will
continue to dominate in the near future. The republic's bio-climatic
resources allow intensive agriculture in the south and deer-farming and
trapping in the north. Much of the economic activity in the Komi Republic
is associated with forests. According to various estimates, forest
reserves are as much as 2.8 billion cubic metres.